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Anyone who says you can’t find good Mexican food in NYC just doesn’t know where to look. The northern end of Sunset Park is home to a bustling Mexican community, and the deservedly popular Tacos Matamoros is where they go to enjoy authentic food from the homeland for working-class prices. Families with strawberry batida-sipping children sit alongside young bachelors slurping hominy-studded white posole, while Asian women peddle bootleg DVDs table to table. The tchotchke-free, wood-veneer-paneled dining room lacks the taquería charm of the former digs across the street, but the intensely flavored dishes remain superlative. English is a second language here, but the extensive menu has enough translations to encourage point-and-nod ordering. Tacos al pastor are made just as they are in Mexico City—stacks of spiced pork filets are roasted on a shawarma spit, then the shaved hunks of meat are served on doubled-up corn tortillas with a mild tomato-chili sauce. Adventurers can try alternative fillings like cabeza (head), cueritos (pig’s trotters), tripa (tripe), and soft lengua (tongue). For the coctel de camarones, a glass is piled high with toothsome boiled shrimp, a sweet cocktail sauce, hunks of avocado, and a wedge of lime. It’s a bargain even by Brooklyn standards. — Ganda Suthivarakom

Tacos al pastor, $1.25; chalupas verdes, $4.50; coctel de camarones, $11; orchata, $2